Ukrainian History: Odesa Overtones
A full-scope presentation of all of The Day’s projects took place several weeks ago, including a photo exhibit currently on display at Odesa’s Museum of Western and Eastern Art and book projects at a readers’ conference at the Mechnikov National Museum of Odesa. A Russian version of the two-volume collection of The Day’s Library Series, Ukraine Incognita and Dvi Rusi, had come off the presses shortly before the conference. In fact, the Russian version was not exactly necessary in Odesa, as all the local residents communicated with our small delegation in Ukrainian. True, some Russian copies were acquired for reasons of political propriety (so everybody could read the books in whichever language they preferred), but the Ukrainian books turned out especially popular, particularly with librarians. This was not surprising, as the Russian version was originally meant for export, to Russia, for example).
The Day’s delegation, led by Editor-in-Chief Larysa Ivshyna and historian Yury Shapoval, was greeted by rather warm weather for Odesa this time of year. And the welcome accorded the guests was even warmer. One could not help but feel deeply moved by the jealous care with which the museum staff headed by Director Viktor Nikiforov arranged The Day’s photo exhibit, allocating two museum halls. The project was also encouraged and supported by the regional state administration and its chairman, Serhiy Hrynevetsky.
At the National University of Odesa (one of Ukraine’s oldest institutions of higher learning), our delegation was met by students and instructors, regular readers and hair-splitting albeit friendly critics. Practically all of the professors were our potential authors. Prof. Yury Shapoval noted in his opening address that The Day’s policy is not aimed at putting forth artificial heroes, but at highlighting figures who left their trace in Ukrainian history. After the meeting, quite a few of his Odesa colleagues wished to add local names to the Editors’ list. In any case, they said further cooperation with this newspaper was necessary in enlightening book-publishing field — and this was stated emphatically rather than suggested.
Odesa’s soft, expressly friendly, and genuinely Ukrainian atmosphere turned out more than favorable for the presentation of The Day’s projects. Larysa Ivshyna also thinks another reason might be because the city is located by the sea and is aired well.
Most of the meeting was kept in the question-answer format, which has become standard practice with The Day, so staging a contest for the best question also came as part of tradition. The main prizes, The Day’s Library Series two volumes, went to Oleksandr Muzychko, assistant with the Chair of Ukrainian History, and its Professor Vasyl Shchetnykov. Other interlocutors (especially the critical Yury Surai) received The Day’s photo albums. The Editor-in-Chief also presented copies of the books to Odesa’s Gorky State Reference Library, Franko Centralized City Library, Hrushevsky Regional University Library, Ivan and Yury Lypa Children’s Library, Mechnikov University Library, and local boarding schools.
And now we propose the readers what we believe were the most interesting statements made in Odesa.
Dmytro SHUPTA (in a note from the audience):
Why was the great pre-Herodotus epoch of the ancient Ukraine missed by the compilers of your two volumes?
Larysa IVSHYNA: Our books are not conceptual historical works. They are what I would describe as light cavalry, reaching quickly for people previously showing no interest in history or loath to read serious history textbooks, Mykhailo Hrushevsky’s ten-volumes, and other academic works. Should we start with the pre-Herodotus epoch? Yury Shapoval is here with us, he is an expert on Ukrainian political history. He and a team of authors have produced a six-volume collection dealing with the history of the twentieth century only. Just imagine the kind of substantial historical work we could embark upon, beginning in the pre-Herodotus period! What would it look like? We set ourselves no such task, and this is why I don’t want to advertise our books as a historical product of sorts. However, I think that we have succeeded in hitting the proper note, something that can keep the Ukrainian citizen interested, allowing him to find answers to some personal questions without plunging into a quest or exploring library stocks.
On more than one occasion I have mentioned last year’s meeting with our readers at Kirovohrad University, when I was presented with an especially valuable gift, when I said it would be the first item on display at The Day’s Museum. I was then presented with a volume compiling our newspaper clippings on history. I later discovered that quite a few academics (among them Mykola Zhulynsky and Myroslav Popovych) had been acting likewise. In other words, our book was actually alive even before it was created. There was demand, and supply had to follow. Without that demand our book would not have been distributed, and we would not have considered the need to put out the second edition, nor would we have considered publishing a Russian version. True, we have not created an A to Z historical work. History is a process. Apparently, we will print other books, but we will choose from this process something people will find most interesting to read there and then. Suppose we leave the rest to the Institute of History.
Yury SURAI, Docent, Ukrainian History Chair, Mechnikov National University, Odesa:
My question could sound like a joke, considering that good humor is peculiar to Odesa. You said our people’s deputies should be tested in Ukrainian history. Who do you think should man the examination boards?
Larysa IVSHYNA: Your question could sound like a joke, but I must give you a very serious answer. I believe that our editorial staff, including noted scholars and people introducing innovations, would be perfectly qualified to conduct and supervise such exams. Picture our lawmakers being posed simple questions, something like, would you please identify any of the Ukrainian heroes and antiheros; would you please formulate the key challenges to Ukrainian national independence along with possible civic losses. This must be done, among other reasons, to help people get their bearings. You must understand, half of our politicians are poorly educated. Here the problem is not even that they can be poorly informed in some sphere or another, but that ignorance of history begets political crises, dead ends, and a great degree of uncertainty. I think that our multivectoral stand comes, among other things, from a lack of knowledge about our history.
Oleksandr MUZYCHKO, Assistant, Ukrainian History Chair:
In your book Dvi Rusi, dedicated to Ukrainian-Russian relations, one finds no Russian scholar’s names. Have you tried to get them involved in the polemic? Are you planning to try? After all, people championing one Rus’ have voiced their opinions in your edition. None has done so on behalf of the other Rus’.
Larysa IVSHYNA: It seems to me that we have taken the first step toward discussing the history of Ukrainian-Russian relations. As you understand, the Russians show a different attitude toward history. A high Russian politician (I mention the fact in my foreword for the first book), a good friend of mine, told me once, “Larysa, what’s this all about, what Ukrainian history?” Honestly, his reaction prompted me to talk a number of authors into contributing to the Dvi Rusi project. It had to be a book dealing, among other things, with Catherine II’s Ukrainian policy — considering that some people want a statue of the Russian empress erected in Ukraine. Understand? Ukraine never experienced such terrible bondage as it did under Catherine II. Yet we have people sincerely believing that we should have a monument to her who exposed Ukraine to the rule of the stick and the whip. This is something we must somehow cure. Part of such a remedy should come from historians. So who should we turn to among Russian scholars? We should seek Russians capable of adopting a different conceptual stand with regard to our history, different from that accepted by most of their fellow countrymen. Do you know the kind of reputation Valeriya Novodvorskya has in Russia? They say she is clever, but — Yes, she is the only one aware of the origin of the Russian state. The rest believe that Russia has always been there, that the Halych-Volyn Principality was part of the Russian Empire; that all of those icons taken away from Kyiv and brought to Nizhny Novgorod had actually always been there. It is true, however, that Russian President Vladimir Putin said, during his recent visit to Kyiv, that the roots of Orthodoxy trace back to the Dnipro’s slopes. Looking for Russian experts is easier said than done. Some could perhaps be found for future books. I know that a representative scholarly conference took place in Pereyaslav-Khmelnytsky recently, involving experts from Russia. It took a rather peaceful course. Although I don’t know if anyone there took the floor to voice a stand showing that at least the progressive part of the Russian scholarly community had revised [and properly understood] the history of Ukrainian-Russian relations. It’s a very complicated process. I think it will depend also on how well we can defend our stand; how convincing, competitive, clever, and tolerant we can demonstrate that we are. You might recall the Tuzla roundtable broadcast by [Moscow’s] NTV (our newspaper carried the transcript). It showed just how prepared our legislators and politicians were to protect their stand, what the level of their argumentation was. This is another problem.
Prof. Vasyl SHCHETNYKOV, Ukrainian History Chair:
With your permission, I would like to turn this discussion from matters high up in the sky to those pragmatically close to the earth. Would you like to have regional historians — specifically those in Odesa oblast — cooperate with you?
Larysa IVSHYNA: In fact, I am here in Odesa to tell you how much we need you. You know, the situation reminds me of [Pushkin’s] Tsar Saltan: frozen figures that you have to touch them to bring them back to life, and you have feedback only if you do. I’ve said on more than one occasion that this society’s level of distrust is so high that ordinary people can’t bring themselves to believe what they actually see. For seven years we’ve tried to tell such people: let’s make this newspaper together. There are many topics to be discussed, among them controversial issues. Odesa is also a unique city, with no strings attached; it is open, with its singular touch of self-irony, something we badly need. I like to repeat that Odesa is not a city but a Universe unto itself. So let me tell you once again, all our addresses and telephones are effective. Everything marked by quality and rating a story will be carried by our newspaper.
